Norwalk Mayor Moccia wants $500K seed money for police HQ razing

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, November 28, 2008

Demolition of the former Norwalk police headquarters off West Avenue, long talked about but still not accomplished, soon could get a boost to the tune of $500,000.

Mayor Richard A. Moccia said he will ask for roughly that amount in the city's 2009-10 capital budget to plan and set aside money for ultimately razing the building, which police vacated in May 2005.

"We are going to put money in the 2009-10 capital budget to start the planning and everything we have to do," Moccia said. "I would think a minimum of $500,000. That would start the preliminary planning, because with asbestos, with issues of remediation, you have to have a very specific plan of how you're going to knock it down, how you're going to protect (people in the area)."

Moccia's request comes as Stepping Stones Museum for Children moves forward with a $15 million expansion that relies partly on existing parking spaces at the old police headquarters. The children's museum hopes to complete the expansion in late 2010 -- the 10th anniversary of its opening.

"Given the expansion of Stepping Stones is moving a little faster than I thought it would, and with the renovations of Lockwood (Mathews Museum) going on -- that's going to increase the people there -- I think it is time to accelerate (the demolition)," Moccia said. "We've got a little more flexibility in the capital budget."

For years, city officials have envisioned razing the building and incorporating the land, or most of it, into Lockwood-Mathews Park, part of a long-term master plan for the park.

But the cost and difficulty of demolishing the building have pushed the project back, even as police vacated the old headquarters and moved into a new building at South Main and Monroe streets.

At present, $2,775,000 is earmarked for fiscal year 2010-11 in the Department of Public Works' five-year capital budget plan. If the money is approved, demolition would begin no sooner than July 1, 2010.

Environmental issues also pose stumbling blocks to demolishing the structure and returning the area to park land. Last year, an environmental remediation report pegged the cost of cleaning up lead from the police headquarters' firing range, and removing asbestos and underground fuel tanks, at $700,000.

Moccia's plan to request funding in next year's capital budget won't necessarily push scheduling the demolition up. But it would leave the city better poised to start that demolition in 2010, as capital dollars, if not committed, are often pushed back from one year to the next.

Within the next several weeks, the city's purchasing department will issue a request for proposals seeking an engineering or architectural firm to advise how the demolition should proceed, according to Alan Lo, building and facilities manager for the city. Demolition is a complex process that requires much planning, according to Lo.

"How much (masonry) material are you going to crush on site and how much fill will you need?" asked Lo, identifying several issues that the engineering report will address.

In addition to laying out a plan for the demolition and cleanup, the engineering report will firm up the cost of the larger project. For years, city officials have floated numbers ranging from $2 to $4 million. While last year's environmental report helped nail remediation costs down, unknowns still remain.

"So if we fund some money now, $500,000, and we know by spring or summer next year how much the whole project is going to cost, then we request (the balance) as part of the 2010-11 capital budget," Lo said. "That money will be available in summer 2010. So assuming that we get the money, we can actually do demolition starting in the summer (of 2010)."

In late October, the Common Council amended the lease between the city and Stepping Stones. The children's museum leases land from the city within Lockwood-Mathews Park. The expansion plan is now under review by the city's Zoning Commission.

Critiques of the expansion have praised Stepping Stones as a institution, but said the expansion will rob Lockwood-Mathews Park of future green space. As such, demolition of the former police headquarters has been a key part of discussion over the Stepping Stones' expansion.

During a public hearing on the expansion plan in October, Tod Bryant, Norwalk Preservation Trust president, asked Moccia to push up funding for demolition of the building. Bryant said Friday that doing so will commit the city to demolishing the structure and creating park land.

"I think that's a really positive step, because giving up parkland for parking is never a good idea. Returning the paved land and the land that the police station sits on back to parkland is a very high priority," Bryant said. "If the city is contractually bound to give up a small amount

of parkland for (Stepping Stones) parking, but we can get a lot more land returned to the park in the bargain, I think that's a reasonable exchange."

Said Bryant: "Demolishing the police station and its surrounding paved area and returning